Can I top her already?

She's 2 weeks and 3 days old but really bushy.. She stands 4" tall now.. I just transplanted her to a 3 gallon smart pot with some FFOF.. Is she ready to be topped?

I just topped mine a little smaller than that. I'm in aero though.
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Chronicmonster420 said:

She's 2 weeks and 3 days old but really bushy.. She stands 4" tall now.. I just transplanted her to a 3 gallon smart pot with some FFOF.. Is she ready to be topped?

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looks like she can safely be topped. I usually wait until 5 sets of leave develop then top at the third set

Go for it

I would personally give her a week from the time of transplant before topping, that way you do not stack stress on top of stress. Assuming that she is indeed stressed from being transplanted. Does she appear a bit sickly and or malformed to anyone else. I zoomed into the upper most leaves and see some yellow patches and or spots apart from the occasional hole.

I'd wait like 5 days unless you plan on topping again then get to it

Thanks guys for the replies!!

Addonexus said:

I would personally give her a week from the time of transplant before topping, that way you do not stack stress on top of stress. Assuming that she is indeed stressed from being transplanted. Does she appear a bit sickly and or malformed to anyone else. I zoomed into the upper most leaves and see some yellow patches and or spots apart from the occasional hole.

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To be honest I did lol her leaves didn't look normal and her growth was a bit rapidly especially for a light that I had no idea if it would work or not.. I had asked about it in a previous post about the plant but didn't get an answer.. She's already growing stems inbetween her fan leaves.. I put her in FFOF to buy me at least a couple weeks to get some organic nutes ready..

Is it recommended to top her if I plan on using her as a mother?

I'm still a newb at this.. It's just my second run (first time from seed and indoors) currently in the middle of flowering my outdoor skunk #1's and GDP.. Posted it under grow journals.. I came here to learn and I've been reading a lot of your guys post and I've been soaking up what I can.. Any and all help/advise would be appreciated.. Thanks!!

If you were to top your lady and then use her as a mother, thus producing clones. In theory those clones would be more accepting to topping down the line. If you are not restrained by vertical limits there is no need to top.

I would suggest Low Stress Training her. Get a piece of thread or something similar and tie it in between the 1st and 2nd node from the top making sure not to damage any part of your lady. From this point "gently" pull your lady to one side, slightly bending her over so she sits horizontal vs vertical. This will inform your lady that she can no longer rely on this top, and will force some hormones to the developing stems. You can LST her for a few days, then giver her a day without being LST. She will most likely completely straiten herself out in a few hours or by the end of the day. If you still want to continue "stem" development LST her in the other direction. You could also tuck her fan leaves under the "stems" when she gets a little older.

Lastly you could FIM your lady and or micro top. The fimmed leaves will be stunted for a while but eventually they will begin to grow again. These are all exceedingly less stressful than topping her.

The two pairs of tender new leaves inside the red box, pluck them out, pinch them off with your fingers.

Yes, top or FIM right away in, in my opinion.

You need to top or FIM to subvert the natural apical dominance, what that means is depending how many time you do it and how long you veg you will get 2, 4, 8, or 24 more big buds, instead of one in the middle. The only situation where you might not want to top is running a SOG sort of set up with lots of small plants. If you're growing just a few and using traditional top-down lighting then definitely always top them, obviously this is "just my opinion." Top and LST, always, or mainline them or something.

She's kind of young to have beat up leaves like I see...What's with the leaf damage and yellow blotches?
Do you think maybe you should be more worried about what's causing that, right now?

Top it an clone it

I'd focus more on the health of the plant and top when that's under control

Michael Huntherz said:

The two pairs of tender new leaves inside the red box, pluck them out, pinch them off with your fingers.
View attachment 3768826
Yes, top or FIM right away in, in my opinion.

You need to top or FIM to subvert the natural apical dominance, what that means is depending how many time you do it and how long you veg you will get 2, 4, 8, or 24 more big buds, instead of one in the middle. The only situation where you might not want to top is running a SOG sort of set up with lots of small plants. If you're growing just a few and using traditional top-down lighting then definitely always top them, obviously this is "just my opinion." Top and LST, always, or mainline them or something.

She's kind of young to have beat up leaves like I see...What's with the leaf damage and yellow blotches?
Do you think maybe you should be more worried about what's causing that, right now?

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Budgoro88 said:

I'd focus more on the health of the plant and top when that's under control

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I have no idea why her leaves are like that.. That's mainly my main reason for putting her in FFOF due to the organic nutes it already has.. I thought that should help her.. Any ideas why that could of happened to the leaves? She grew her first sets of leaves like that.. The newer leaves and her leaves on the branches look pretty good..

Chronicmonster420 said:

I have no idea why her leaves are like that.. That's mainly my main reason for putting her in FFOF due to the organic nutes it already has.. I thought that should help her.. Any ideas why that could of happened to the leaves? She grew her first sets of leaves like that.. The newer leaves and her leaves on the branches look pretty good..

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Almost looks like a leaf miner or something in spots. Ffof is fine, don't add any nutrients, just water that is somewhere near neutral; 6.5-75 anywhere in there is fine in soil. Maybe spray and water with a bit of spinosad insecticide, it is really safe stuff. Cheers! Spinosad, if you didn't know, is miracle bacterial insecticide that will actually help control broadleaf weeds too! If you did, then I should just shut up...yeah,

Chronicmonster420 said:

I have no idea why her leaves are like that.. That's mainly my main reason for putting her in FFOF due to the organic nutes it already has.. I thought that should help her.. Any ideas why that could of happened to the leaves? She grew her first sets of leaves like that.. The newer leaves and her leaves on the branches look pretty good..

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I like happy frog by fox farm but im a coco guy

RolllingStone said:

I like happy frog by fox farm but im a coco guy

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I did a mix of both with some extra perlite and that was some good-ass dirt. Expensive, really, fox farm soils are stupid expensive here.

I am a coco guy now, sort of, too. Finishing my last soil plants soon and my coco-based run is just starting up. Using Royal Gold Tupur and really liking it. It seems like it has a bit more forgiveness of pH fluctuations than the brick of coco mixed with perlite and growstone aerator that I did before. I prepped it carefully and fought it quite a bit, but Tupur I use right out of the bag, and even made clones just by jamming cuts into it and ignoring them for a while.

Michael Huntherz said:

Almost looks like a leaf miner or something in spots. Ffof is fine, don't add any nutrients, just water that is somewhere near neutral; 6.5-75 anywhere in there is fine in soil. Maybe spray and water with a bit of spinosad insecticide, it is really safe stuff. Cheers! Spinosad, if you didn't know, is miracle bacterial insecticide that will actually help control broadleaf weeds too! If you did, then I should just shut up...yeah,

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Thanks!! I had to buy some thuricide for my outdoor blasts because caterpillars we're starting to attack lol.. Would that work?

Chronicmonster420 said:

Thanks!! I had to buy some thuricide for my outdoor blasts because caterpillars we're starting to attack lol.. Would that work?

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It will kill some caterpillars in a hurry, and not so much with others, from what I understand. I'm fogging my whole yard with the stuff in a week or two, and again in spring.

Leaf miner isn't exactly what I was thinking, some other leaf cutting insect, but I'd say pet or pest damage is possible, either way. Do you have a cat that might be swatting your plant? They will eat them, so will any other animal, seems like, some dogs will.
The yellow botches could be from pH fluctuations and might just go away, but keep an eye on them.

I topped my latest a lot earlier than where you are. But I agree with the others get it healthy before any cuts made...